Cooking with Eggs

If I haven’t convinced you yet to raise some chickens in your backyard, I hope I’ve at least convinced you to seek out the freshest, most nutritious eggs you can. Will eggs from your backyard flock save you money? Absolutely not. As my husband constantly reminds me, these are the most expensive eggs we’ll ever eat. When you factor in the cost of the baby chicks, the feed cost, the initial start-up costs of building or buying a coop and erecting a pen or run, plus any supplements or treats that you feed them, you’ll never beat the cost of eighteen eggs for eighty-nine cents at one of the shopping clubs, or likely two or three dollars a dozen at the supermarket for “premium” eggs. But fresh eggs are worth every penny.

My stomach growls, reminding me that I haven’t eaten yet, so I slip a pat of butter into the skillet on the stove and turn on the flame. Once the butter stops sizzling, I crack the egg on the counter and slide it into the pan.

Within a minute or two, my egg is cooked. The whites are set and slightly crispy around the edges, and the yolk is partially cooked but still runny in the middle. I tilt the skillet, and the egg slides out of the pan onto my plate. It needs no seasoning, but a slight sprinkle of kosher salt on top elevates the egg’s natural flavors.

I press the tines of my fork into the yolk, which splits open to release a glorious, thick, orange gush of liquid gold that lazily oozes out onto my plate. I’m going to enjoy my breakfast now, and then I’ll share a few tricks with you to help you get the best results possible when you’re cooking with fresh eggs.

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The Chef’s Toque

It’s said that the folds in a chef’s white hat (or toque) represent the number of ways that chef can prepare eggs—with one hundred being the gold standard to which a chef aspires. I wasn’t able to definitively verify this, but I have perfected a few of the many wonderful ways of cooking eggs that are handy to have in any home cook’s repertoire. And you don’t need to be a trained chef to master them.

EGG WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Most recipes call for “large” eggs. In the commercial egg world, large eggs in their shells generally weigh between 2 and 2.25 ounces. In the backyard chicken world, our girls pop out eggs of all shapes and sizes. Normally this doesn’t matter if you’re scrambling or frying eggs, but in the world of baking or any recipe that calls for emulsifying eggs, the size of an egg and the white-to-yolk ratio play an important part.

Commercial eggs are graded by size, from small to jumbo. But interestingly, they’re sold by weight, not size, and by the dozen, not individually. So, for example, a dozen medium eggs will weigh 21 ounces, or an average of 1.75 ounces per egg; however, the weights of individual eggs in that carton don’t all have to be exactly 1.75 ounces. The same goes for the other sizes of eggs: not every egg in a carton of large eggs is necessarily going to be a large-weight egg, and so on.

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Egg Size Chart

The chart below shows the average weights of eggs in different size classes, as well as the total weight of a carton of each size of egg. While individual eggs in a carton can vary in weight, so can the average weights of eggs in each size class.

Most of my chickens’ eggs seem to fall in the 1.75-ounce range, so technically they’re medium, not large, eggs. Thus, your results for the recipes in this book will be closer to mine using medium eggs, but large eggs most likely won’t make much of a difference.

I guess any chicken keepers worth their salt would own an egg scale and weigh and sort eggs before cooking or baking with them, but I can tell you in more than a decade of raising chickens, I’ve never worried about what size egg I’m using in a recipe. I pick out a few that look to be average-size. But if you want to be precise in your cooking and baking, I absolutely recommend investing in a kitchen scale to weigh your eggs. Most recipes do call for large eggs, so especially with baking, where measurements are more critical, weighing your eggs before using them can help you achieve more consistent results.

If you don’t have an egg scale, you can still measure eggs for a recipe. The average large egg contains just over 3 tablespoons of liquid: roughly 2 tablespoons of white and 1 tablespoon of yolk. So if you want to be sure you’re using the right amount of egg in a recipe, you can always lightly whisk the number of eggs called for and then measure them out by tablespoons.

A note about duck or goose eggs: If you raise ducks or geese or can procure the eggs at a farmers market or gourmet shop, you can absolutely use them in any of the recipes in this

Size Class Average Weight / Egg (in ounces)

Small 1.5

Medium 1.75

Large

Extra Large

Jumbo 2.0

2.25

2.50

Total Carton Weight (in ounces)

18

21

24

27

30

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book. I often cook and bake with waterfowl eggs and, in fact, due to their higher fat content, they will make baked goods rise higher and taste richer. Since duck eggs are about 30 percent larger than chicken eggs, you’ll have to make some adjustments to the recipes. The rule of thumb is this: 2 duck eggs equal 3 chicken eggs in weight. So if a recipe calls for 3 eggs, you can substitute 2 duck eggs. And with larger goose eggs, 1 goose egg equals 3 chicken eggs. Or to be accurate, weigh the eggs on your kitchen scale or crack the eggs and measure out 3 tablespoons for each egg the recipe calls for. From my experience, I’ve used some of my smaller duck eggs one for one in recipes calling for chicken eggs and never had a problem. Unless you call lighter, fluffier baked goods a problem.

HOW TO CRACK AND SEPARATE EGGS

Cracking eggs and separating eggs are two skills necessary before we get cooking. Eggs should always be cracked on a flat surface. This prevents eggshell shards from being pushed into the egg, which can happen if you crack the egg on a sharp edge. If you crack an egg on the rim of a bowl or skillet, there’s a chance that shell fragments—or worse, bacteria—could be mixed into the egg white and end up in your dish. Holding the egg horizontal, sharply rap it against the counter, roughly in the middle. Then, using your thumbs, pull the two halves apart and let the contents drop into a dish.

If you don’t feel confident in your egg-cracking skills, it’s always a good idea to slide the cracked eggs into a small bowl first, not directly into your batter or pan, in case a piece of shell falls in or the egg has gone bad. That way you don’t ruin your entire recipe and have to start over. It’s far easier to fish small eggshell pieces out of a small dish than from an entire bowl of cake batter.

And unless you’re super-confident, never, ever crack an egg and drop the contents right into your stand mixer while the motor is running. If the whisk catches the edge of the shell, I can assure you from personal experience, you’ll never be able to pick all the pieces out of your batter.

Cracking an egg with one hand is more of a party trick than anything else. I don’t think I’ve ever actually had the need to do it, although of course I’ve tried and can do it in a pinch. But your chances of making a mess and ending up with shell in your bowl are too high to really warrant it.

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Separating an egg is also a necessary skill to master. It starts the same way as cracking an egg, but instead of holding the egg horizontal and letting the contents drop into a bowl, you’ll want to turn the cracked egg upright and then carefully pour the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, letting the whites fall into the bowl. Another method involves carefully pouring the cracked egg into a funnel where the yolk will get stuck and the whites will drip out into the bowl. And, of course, there’s a party trick for egg separating as well. After cracking your egg and gently sliding it into the bowl, you take a plastic water bottle, squeeze the bottle, then rest the mouth of the bottle against the yolk and release your grip on the bottle. The yolk will get sucked up into the bottle, leaving the white in the bowl.

One more little party trick before we move on. Bet your friends that you can tell if an egg is raw or hard-cooked without cracking it open. (Hint: Spin the egg on the counter. A raw egg will wobble as it spins, while a cooked egg will spin smoothly—and longer—than its raw counterpart.)

EGG TEMPERATURE

When baking, use room-temperature eggs and butter when a recipe calls for them, and use cold cream to whisk into whipped cream. Ingredient temperatures matter. Chilled eggs can cause butter or other fats to harden, creating lumps, but you won’t have that problem with

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room-temperature eggs. And room-temperature egg whites whip higher than cold ones. To warm your eggs, let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes or in a bowl of tepid water for 10 minutes.

However, cooking with cold eggs straight from the fridge is usually fine, and cold eggs are easier to separate.

TIPS FOR BEATING EGG WHITES

Beating egg whites is a basic baking skill that’s important to master for any number of recipes, such as meringues, soufflés, and angel food cake. It’s not difficult, but it does require some finesse. Make sure that all your equipment is sparkling clean and grease-free. Even a speck of fat can prevent your whites (or heavy whipping cream) from whipping up correctly.

The Bowl

A glass or metal bowl is best for beating egg whites. Plastic bowls can have a residual film of grease on them. And remember that your egg whites will increase six to eight times in volume as they whip, so be sure your bowl is big enough.

The Utensils

To ensure that your bowl, whisk, paddle, spatula, and other tools you’re using are free of any fats or grease, simply wipe them down with a paper towel dampened with white vinegar or half a lemon, or swish them in a dishpan full of white vinegar, then wipe them clean or rinse with warm water and let them dry.

The Sugar

A meringue recipe often will call for superfine sugar because the smaller granules incorporate better into the whites, resulting in a smoother consistency. But if you don’t have

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superfine sugar, you can use an equal amount of granulated sugar, whirled briefly in a coffee grinder or food processor to pulverize it.

The Egg Whites

As I mentioned earlier, cold eggs separate more easily than warm eggs, so separate each egg right from the refrigerator. However, room-temperature eggs whip up better than cold ones, so once you’ve separated your egg whites, let them sit out on the counter for about 30 minutes.

Separate the egg whites into a small cup or bowl. This will prevent accidents, such as tiny bits of yolk or eggshell mixing in with the whites. It's far easier to pick a piece of shell out of a small bowl than a larger one. Don't use your hands to separate the egg; instead, use the eggshell half to prevent any oils on your hands from getting into the whites. Once you've separated the egg whites, pour them from the small bowl into your mixing bowl. Then separate the next egg the same way.

When you’re ready to beat your egg whites, use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment or whisk beaters. Whip on medium for 30 to 45 seconds until the whites become foamy, then increase the speed to medium-high and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes more for soft peaks. At the soft peak stage, the eggs are no longer frothy; instead, they’re thick and white, but when you pull the whisk out of the whites, the peaks won’t hold up. They will flop over or droop and sink back into the bowl. Keep whipping for about 3 minutes, until you have firm peaks that still curl over when you remove the whisk. Beat for 2 more minutes (5 to 6 minutes total) for stiff peaks. At the stiff peak stage, the peaks will hold when you lift the whisk out of the bowl and on the whisk itself. The whites should be glossy, not dry looking. Overwhipped egg whites will become gritty, dry out, and eventually separate.

If you’re adding sugar to your egg whites, this should be done once your whites get to the soft peak stage, starting only when your egg whites have almost doubled in volume. Pour the sugar in slowly so you don’t deflate the whites. For the most volume and smoothest texture, make sure the sugar has been fully incorporated and the mixture is no longer gritty before adding more sugar. You can tell by rubbing some of the mixture between your fingers. Incorporating the sugar could take 6 to 8 minutes from start to finish.

Adding cream of tartar, lemon juice, vinegar, or salt to your egg whites will result in more stable whites, but regardless, beaten egg whites should be used immediately so they retain their structure.

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GENERAL COOKING TIPS

Whether you’re cooking with your own eggs or not, a chicken somewhere worked very hard to lay those eggs, so out of respect for the chicken, if nothing else, pair them with the freshest, ingredients possible. The flavor of eggs is so subtle that it complements a wide variety of flavors, but that also means that a light hand should be used when seasoning or pairing eggs with other stronger-tasting ingredients, to let the egg flavor peek through. So, no cutting corners when you’re cooking from this book, promise? If a recipe calls for freshly squeezed lemon juice, squeeze that lemon!

Here’s a tip for citrus: I buy both lemons and limes by the bag when they’re on sale and slice some, halve some, quarter some, and leave some whole. Then I pop them all into the freezer. The frozen slices and quarters are ideal to chill beverages on a hot summer day or thawed to garnish cocktails or squeeze over fish or a salad; the halves quickly defrost and can be juiced. The whole frozen citrus can be used for grated peel as needed—frozen citrus is much easier to grate than fresh. This way my citrus lasts longer, and I always have as much “fresh” juice and peel on hand as I need.

Everyone should keep good-quality kosher salt on hand and grind peppercorns to order instead of using pre-ground. And why not try green peppercorns instead, or white pepper? Experimenting with different types of pepper can add variety to your meals very easily and inexpensively. I also use freshly ground nutmeg. The flavor and quality of many ingredients, especially spices, deteriorate once they’re in powdered or ground form, so buying them whole and grinding as much as you need on demand makes sense. It’s also often less expensive to buy whole spices in bulk.

If you’re still using vanilla extract, why not try switching that out for vanilla bean paste? Even good-quality vanilla extract can’t compete with the lovely paste. Used in a one-for-one substitution in any recipe that calls for vanilla extract, the paste gives cheesecake, crème brûlée, and homemade ice cream those beautiful dark flecks that you would get from using a real vanilla bean (but far less expensively), and there’s less of that alcohol taste you sometimes get from extract.

As for dairy items, I use whole milk and cream and unsalted butter, and I always purchase cheese by the block and grate or shred as I need it. Commercially shredded cheese is treated with an anticlumping agent, but that agent can mess up your recipes. Freshly grated cheese will also taste, well, freshly grated.

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Herbs should be sourced fresh as well, if possible. It’s not hard to grow herbs, nor does it take much space to do so. My tip is to buy the whole plant in the plastic pot, if available. It’s not only more economical to buy the plant versus prepackaged herbs, but whatever you don’t use can be set on a sunny windowsill, then pruned and trimmed as needed. As long as you occasionally water them, most herbs thrive with little attention. I have a small “patio” kitchen herb garden in the summer months where I grow the culinary herbs I use most: basil, dill, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. Then I dry some of the extra herbs to store and use through the winter. Before the first frost, I also bring a couple of plants indoors to keep on my kitchen windowsill during the winter, and I grow some herbs from seed in small pots. It’s so useful to have fresh herbs year-round to flavor and garnish

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dishes. If you don’t want to grow your own, most grocery stores stock a variety of fresh herbs.

And here’s another trick. Don’t toss the root ends when you chop scallions. Stick them into a shot glass full of water on the kitchen counter. They will grow three or four times, and for weeks you’ll have fresh scallions at your fingertips for the price of one bunch! Sprinkling chopped scallions on top of a dish immediately gives it a boost of color and a pop of flavor.

I’m a big fan of mise en place. For the uninitiated, “mise en place” is a French term that means “put in place” or “everything in its place.” In cooking or baking it refers to assembling your ingredients before you even turn on the stove. It’s good practice to gather, measure, and prep (chop, peel, slice, etc.) all your ingredients before you start cooking, using condiment dishes, measuring cups and spoons, and so forth. This is important for two reasons. First, you will know you have all the ingredients you need for the recipe before you get started (or can look for substitutions for those ingredients you don’t have!). There’s nothing worse than getting halfway through a recipe and realizing that you don’t have a critical ingredient. Second, when you get to the end of the recipe, you will know by your empty prep containers that you’ve added the correct amount of each ingredient and haven’t missed a step! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered if I’ve already whisked the salt into the flour—for example, as I’m pouring it into my cake batter.

Speaking of cake batter, when measuring flour for a recipe you’re baking, weighing your flour is the most accurate way to be sure you’re using consistent amounts. But short of that (I’ll admit that while I have a kitchen scale, I almost never use it), spooning the flour into your measuring cup—instead of scooping out the flour with the cup, which can pack it more tightly—and then leveling it off with a butter knife or chopstick is going to net you the most accurate measure.

When I bake, I use my stand mixer 99 percent of the time, so that’s what I’ve used for the recipes in this book. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer in all of the recipes. My mom always used a hand mixer and would give my brother and me each a beater to lick when she was done mixing cake or cookie batter. I wonder what

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mothers do these days. Let the kids fight over the lone paddle of a stand mixer? Or maybe eating raw cookie dough has gone the way of riding a bicycle without a helmet or drinking out of a garden hose.

One final note: Despite the times listed for the recipes in this book, a cook or baker needs to recognize that a dish is done when it’s done. Learning what dishes should look, feel, and smell like is a far more valuable skill than being able to set a timer and walk away. A famous chef once said he hated being asked when a dish is done. “It’s done when it’s done” was his reply. Sage advice that does, however, take practice.

EGG SAFETY

Before we start cooking, I need to address egg safety. You likely have heard that raising chickens or eating raw eggs can lead to salmonella poisoning. Although fairly rare, this is the most common egg-related illness, and some eggs can—and do—contain salmonella, which passes from an infected hen to her eggs. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately one in every twenty thousand eggs could be contaminated with the bacteria.1 Salmonella poisoning is a very real illness, which in an otherwise healthy individual might manifest as little more than a bad case of food poisoning that causes stomach upset and diarrhea, but it can be serious for the very young, the elderly, pregnant women, or those with compromised immune systems.

Some of the recipes in this book do call for uncooked or partially cooked eggs. Those with compromised immune systems or those who are concerned about food poisoning

1. Eric Ebel and Wayne Schlosser, “Estimating the Annual Fraction of Eggs Contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis in the United States,” International Journal of Food Microbiology 61, no. 1 (October 2000): 51–62, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168–1605(00)00375–5.

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should avoid eating raw or partially cooked eggs, such as those in mayonnaise and softscrambled or poached eggs. Cooking eggs to 160 to 165 degrees (which means fully cooking both the yolk and the white) kills the bacteria.

If you raise chickens, you can mitigate the risk of contracting salmonella by washing your hands after handling your chickens or their eggs, keeping your nesting boxes clean to prevent manure on the eggs, and disallowing your chickens in your house. Discarding cracked or dirty eggs, refrigerating eggs as soon as they are collected, and rinsing them just prior to cooking them will help reduce or eliminate the risk. (Although it's usually safe to store eggs at room temperature for at least two weeks, salmonella bacteria multiply faster at warmer temperatures, so storing eggs in the refrigerator is safer. Eggs should be stored on an interior fridge shelf, not in the door where they will be more susceptible to temperature variations.)

Keep in mind that fresh eggs are less likely to contain large amounts of salmonella because the bacteria haven’t had time to grow. As I mentioned earlier, fresh eggs that haven’t been washed can stay out at room temperature for a couple of weeks thanks to the invisible “bloom” on the shell that protects the inside of the egg from air and bacteria. Washing removes that bloom, so commercial eggs do need to be refrigerated, since they have been washed, and fresh eggs need to be refrigerated if you wash them. Otherwise, you can leave them on the counter, but remember that one day at room temperature ages an egg as much as a week in the fridge, so eggs will last seven times longer if they’re kept chilled. And as I’ve said before, always store eggs pointy end down. This keeps the yolk centered in the middle of the whites, which not only protects the yolk from bacteria but also makes for prettier deviled and hard-cooked eggs.

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